Tag: consolidation

How can I save money when buying from Yahoo Auctions Japan?

When buying from Yahoo Auctions Japan, as sellers will almost never send internationally, we have to have items sent from the seller to our warehouse in Osaka. This provides a great way to save money and that is combining multiple items together in to one box for international shipping. This is also referred to as package consolidation.

Combining /package consolidation

For example, the minimum cost for an EMS express package (3 to 5 days shipping time) is 2,000 yen and allows up to 500 grams maximum weight. If you were to send 5 x 100 gram packages, you would be up for 5 x 2,000 yen which is 10,000 yen (~$100 USD). However, if you were to put those same 5 items in to one box and the total weight was 500 grams or under, then you would only need to pay 1 x 2,000 yen (~$20 USD) EMS shipping cost. That is a saving of 8,000 yen (~$80) just by combining the items in to one box!

We don’t charge any consolidation fees so there is almost no reason not to use our package consolidation service. We will even combine your items bought through our Yahoo Shopping English site or any other place in Japan you buy from through KaiGuys for free!

Are there any downsides to combining/package consolidation?

The above example is a common way that we help our customers save money when buying from Yahoo Auctions Japan through our Yahoo Auctions Japan English site. However, there are a few caveats with combining/package consolidation.

The first one is that some items will not combine well and may end up actually costing you more money in shipping. For example, if you wanted to send 2 items by sea post which has smaller size limits than EMS express, but is a lot cheaper, and if you combined them and the box went over the maximum size limit for sea post, then you would have to pay for EMS express shipping, costing you more money.

Another issue is that some items should not be combined together as they might break the other item. Let’s say you have 2 items. The first item is a set of car brakes (calipers and rotors), and the other is a set of car headlights. They might go together well, however there is a high chance that the heavy brakes might smash the glass in the headlights during the trip from Japan to your country.

So in cases like these, it can actually be better to send the items separately. We have a lot of experience packing and sending items internationally, so if our expert staff believe your items will not combine well or will end up costing you more than sending separately, we will contact you to ask what you would like to do.

If you would like to ask us questions about combining items, please contact us.

What are some other ways to save money when buying from Yahoo Auctions Japan?

Another way to save money when buying from Yahoo Auctions Japan through KaiGuys is to buy or win multiple items from the same seller at the same time.

Buy or win multiple items from the same seller at the same time

When buying through KaiGuys, if you buy or win multiple items from the same seller at the same time, and the seller ships them as one package to us, we combine the commission together for you. Here is an example.

We have a minimum commission of 1,000 yen per item bought or won on our Yahoo Auctions Japan English site. This is to cover staff time like contacting and paying the seller, receiving and packing your items, as well as responding to customer emails and so on.

Let’s say you won 5 items valued at 5,000 yen each (~$50 USD). If you won them from all different sellers, you would be up for 5 x 1,000 yen minimum commission as we have to contact 5 different sellers and receive and process 5 different packages. However, if you buy them from the same seller and they ship them all to us in 1 package, that takes us considerably less time to process, so we pass that discount on to you. That means you would pay 2,500 yen commission @ 10% rather than 5,000 yen commission. That’s a 50% saving on our commission just by being smart with with the auctions you bid on or buy.

Combined shipping from the seller to the KaiGuys warehouse

Another way you will save money when buying multiple items from the same seller at the same time is you will save on domestic shipping from the seller to our warehouse in Osaka.

If we use the above example, so far you have saved 2,500 yen. If you were to send 5 x individual packages from different sellers to us, then you might be up for 800 yen or more per package. However, if the seller sends them as one package to us, it might only be 1,400 yen in shipping costs. That’s another few thousand yen in shipping costs that you can save. If you add that to the package consolidation example from earlier, you could easily save $100+ just by planning your bids/purchases!

Snipe bidding

Another service we offer to our customers on our Yahoo Auctions Japan English site is the ability to place snipe bids. Our snipe bidding system allows you to set the time of your bid up to 1 minute before the end of the auction. This allows you to “set and forget” your bid.

Our system will place it for you at your designated time, allowing you to hopefully beat out the other bidders at the very last minute. It can also stop “bidding wars” where you bid early and someone else keeps bidding against you, pushing the price further and further higher in the days leading up to the end of the auction. Why pay more unnecessarily?

If you would like to learn how to place a snipe bid on our site, please see our snipe bidding guide.

KaiGuys discount coupons

Occasionally we run campaigns where we offer discounts on our commission in the form of coupon codes. If you would like to learn more about our coupon codes, please see this page.

Any questions?

If you have any questions about saving money when buying from Yahoo Auctions Japan, or any questions for us in general, please contact us and our experienced staff will be happy to answer your questions for you.